Paski Vineria Popolare fires up Paddington renaissance

Paski Vineria Popolare opened its doors on Monday, November 11, its first service taking place under the watchful gaze of a Last Supper-inspired artwork.

The giant artwork by Gianluca Cannizzo has a clue to the Paski name. In the bottom corner is co-owner Giorgio De Maria's dog Paski, who is in turn named after an Italian wine.

The trio of owners – De Maria (Giorgio De Maria Fun Wines), Mattia Dicati (Vino Mito Wine Imports) and chef Enrico Tomelleri (Ragazzi, 10 William Street) are bullish about the revival of the once premier Sydney hospitality strip. Paski slides into the space where This Must Be The Place previously operated.

"There's Cafe Freda's, Dimitri's Pizzeria and Fabbrica Pasta Shop's production space just a few doors down, and the building where Don Peppino's was is being redeveloped as a hotel," says De Maria.

The latest arrival on Oxford Street, Paski shares a similar wine and food mix as the newish Porcine restaurant and P&V Wine up the hill.

Downstairs is a walk-in bar with a 400-bottle line-up displayed by producer rather than style and a tight menu of small Italian plates. Upstairs at Paski Sopra (bookings required), Tomelleri's food gets a little more serious.

Pappa al pomodoro with baccala and anolini pasta stuffed with parmigiano and broad beans and served in parmigiano broth both feature on the opening menu.

"Our main focus is not the bottleshop, but you can get a bottle of wine to take away from the downstairs bar," says De Maria.

Sopra is open Mon-Tue and Thu-Sat 5.30pm-late; the wine bar and shop is open Mon-Sat 3pm-late.

239 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, paski.com.au